Complete sets from Scribbled Ink #2: 1992 Topps

As promised, today I'm showing off the other set I snagged in a trade with Paul of Scribbled Ink:  1992 Topps.  There's plenty more rookies, PC guys, and Tigers (mostly the latter two groups) to check out, so let's have a look:

The RC class for this year wasn't fantastic, but at least this trio was pretty good.  Ramirez put up Hall of Fame numbers and brought two titles (including the first one in forever) to Boston, but PEDs are what's largely holding up his enshrinement.  Floyd was a solid player known mostly as a Marlin, Expo, and Met, and was part of Florida's surprise '97 Series win.  And Green found plenty of success as a hitter, mostly with the Blue Jays and Dodgers, over a nice 15-year career.

Guys with RCs in this set that didn't make the cut but were at least somewhat notable include:  Brien Taylor (LOL), Brad Ausmus, Aaron Sele, Shawn Estes, and Pokey Reese.

A nice bunch of my player collection guys appear in this set as their careers overlapped around 1992.  Kamieniecki, Howe, and Larkin are three Michigan guys with plenty more on the way (including another Larkin).  Tram is one of three Tigers PC guys you'll get to see.  Gwynn's card (he only had one in this set) is new to me as is Ripken's All-Star subset appearance, and I actually scored one more in this set that I didn't previously own.

Abbott doesn't appear to have been an AL All-Star in '91 (or at least didn't participate in the game) but he did have a career year, winning 18 games and tossing 158 strikeouts (both career highs) and landing third in Cy Young voting with a 7.6 bWAR.  So I guess you could say he deserved a pair of cards in this set, as did fellow All-Star from the NL Barry Larkin.  Sweet Lou and Gibby (making a cameo from his season with the Royals) finish up the PC Tigers, and they bookend today's other new addition, a base card of Maddux that was released the same year he won his first of four straight Cy Youngs.

The horizontal photos tend to look quite nice on this design.  Ripken's regular base card is an instant classic of the Iron Man pictured with the monument of the Iron Horse at old Yankee Stadium, and as a reminder Cal had won his second AL MVP in '91.  Griffey gets a cool (if isolated) action shot from his second All-Star campaign.  And we finish up the PC group with a couple of Wolverines that became Reds that became 1990 World Series champs:  Chris Sabo and Hal Morris, also featuring cool photos.

Because I tagged so many players I didn't have room for one of my favorites, "1990s Tigers SUCKED", but boy did they ever.  I should mention, though, that at least the '91 Tigs went over .500 for the first time since 1988.  And at least there were still some guys I liked in this group.

Tettleton, one of my 90s favorites, was in his first of four seasons in Motown, and he bashed 30+ homers in each of his first three.  He put up almost 15.0 bWAR for the Tigers after being swapped for Jeff Robinson, who did next to nothing after the deal.

Brogna had a cup of coffee with the Tigers and put up a few 20-homer seasons during the steroid era, but he shares this four-player prospects card with the much better Ryan Klesko, a braves fixture.  And the bottom trio gets thumbs up from me:  former top closer Mike Henneman, another blog favorite in the versatile Tony Phillips, and the late Dave Bergman (a year before his sunset season).

Sparky was nearing the end of his Hall of Fame career but would hold on until the end of the 1995 season, going 1331-1248 and the '84 title in his 17 years in Detroit.  Fielder again led the league in homers and RBI (44 and 133, respectively) after bashing 51 long balls in 1990, his first season in Detroit, and he indeed earned an All-Star nod.  Deer was a strikeout machine as usual, and his 175 Ks almost eclipsed his batting average of .179.  Tanana went 13-12 in his penultimate season in Motown while Gullickson somehow won 20 games in his first of four years with the Tigers at the end of his career.

I seriously have no idea who Dan Gaekeler was and I watched this team quite a bit, but apparently he appeared in 31 games.  Like Brogna above, Pemberton shares his prospects card with a more notable player in Henry Rodriguez.  Former top prospect Pete Incaviglia signed with Detroit after half a decade with Texas and mostly served as a DH (with negative value, at that) in his only season with the team.  Walt "Terrible" Terrell went 12-14 so he wasn't the worst in his penultimate season.  And Fryman put up 21 HR and 3.2 bWAR in his first full season, a sign of the good things to come for his career.

I wasn't thrilled that the ineffective don Gleaton got his own scan but that's how the cards shook out this time.  Fortunately he left for the Pirates (eventually) after '91, his season year with the Tigers.

And that's it for 1992 Topps!  In terms of a set run from the year I was born, 1983, to the present, I now have every year except for '83 and '90 going up through 2010, though I may also decide to chase the Traded sets I'm missing as well.

I believe next on the agenda is a PWE trade and I'll try to get to that soon!

Complete sets from Scribbled Ink #1: 1989 Topps

Some of you may recall that the last time I met up with Paul from Scribbled Ink (as well as John of John's Big League Baseball Blog) at a Tigers game late in August, he was nice enough to flip me a couple complete Topps sets he landed on the cheap from a show.  I promised I'd give them their own posts like I did when purchasing sets from arpsmith way back at the beginning of the year, and now I'm doing just that.

Today's post covers set #1, and one of the junkiest of junk wax sets ever, 1989 Topps.  I can't explain my overall negative opinion of this set for some reason, but the design and player selection just never struck a chord with me.  Still, it's filled with lots of players I collect and it puts me that much closer to owning a nice run of complete flagship sets starting from when I was born in 1983.

As you can see in the image the set Paul gave me was a factory version, and an unopened one at that.  Or at least the cards inside were untouched and shrink-wrapped, so I enjoyed busting them open and sorting them (just one of those little collecting things you've gotta love).  Once I'd freed and sorted all 792 cards they didn't quite fit into the original box so I gave them a new home in one sized for 800, and they're resting much more comfortably there.

So with all that out of the way, let's have a look at some 1989 cardboard!

As usual I'll begin with what I selected as the most significant RCs, and this is a pretty nice group overall.  Biggio, Smoltz, and Johnson are all HOFers, and the other guys weren't exactly chipped liver either.

• Sheffield has a very good case for the Hall but PED accusations and a reputation as a bad teammate have hurt him so who knows if or when he'll make it?
• Abbott is of course a PC guy for me and I love that the draft picks appear in their college unis in some cases.  The Angels took him 8th overall in 1988 after a fantastic amateur career and he went on to post a notable tenure in the Majors as well.
• Sandy Alomar the younger was the 1990 AL ROY after getting flipped from the pictured Padres to Cleveland, and the six-time All-Star had a great 11-year run with the Indians that included pennants in 1995 and '97.
• Bichette (whose first name was Alphonse, I did not know that!) was more significant than his 5.7 bWAR would indicate.  He put up 201 HR in seven productive seasons with Colorado as part of their inaugural club and made four All-Star rosters.
• Ventura was a White Sox fan favorite (if not as a manager) thanks to 10 quite productive years with the club, and he had a few good seasons for both New York teams to boot.  A terrific career at Oklahoma State--including a 58-game hitting streak--presaged a great MLB run (56.1 bWAR) for Abbott's fellow 1988 top-10 pick and Olympic Teammate.

Now let's have a look at a couple scans' worth of PC guys.  I believe I locked all of these up not that long ago so none were needs, but it's nice to have them in set form all the same.

Maddux, Ripken, and Whitaker all get just one appearance in this set, which is a shame, but the next two guys get a bit more love.  I was puzzled to see Gibby listed as an All-Star since he doesn't have an appearance in that game listed on his Baseball Reference page.  That led to me learning today that he actually declined an invitation to the 1988 version of the game, and maybe that's why he gets the weird "PH" distinction.  Meanwhile, Trammell did elect to play, though Ripken was the actual starter at SS.  I just don't get Topps sometimes.  Anyway, we'll see the 2018 HOFer again a couple more times.

Besides Abbott's RC above, this scan gives us the rest of the set's Michigan Baseball guys in Sabo, Larkin, Leach, and Ontiveros.  Sabo got the coveted All-Star Rookie trophy and made it onto the MLB's version too on his way to a ROY 1988 campaign.  Larkin, too, was an NL All-Star, his first of 12 appearances.  '88 was Leach's last season in Toronto (he was a Giant in '89), and Ontiveros would also be on the move after the season, heading to Philly.

Gwynn is another one-card guy in this set, and that's mainly down to 1988 being the only year he wasn't an All-Star between '84 and '99.  I'm glad he didn't keep that goofy hairstyle forever, but what he did keep up was his excellent hitting, winning his third batting title.

And Tram gets his second of three appearances, though the third will have to wait until the last scan because I done goofed.  This is his regular base card, though, and the stats on the back paint a picture of a guy who'd quietly put up some very good numbers in Detroit, with more on the way.

And now we get into the not-as-fun stuff:  the 1988 Detroit Tigers of '89 Topps.  Hernandez and Anderson are the only remnants of the '84 champs in this scan, and the former ace closer was decent out of the pen but gave way to a guy we'll see in the next scan.  Fresh off his excellent second half for the Tigers Alexander was fine as well, but he'd play just one more season, and then Detroit fans would rue acquiring him for John Smoltz forever.  Terrell was the team's worst starter and would depart after the season, then return in 1990 for three more years of Walt "Terrible".

Pettis was also in his first of two tours with Detroit and was one of the more valuable guys on the team that year, though that's not saying much.  I'm not sure why anyone thought Searcy was a "future star" but he dispelled that notion quickly.

King was a decent arm out of the pen (and another guy who'd leave and then return in the early 90s, what's up with that?) while the late Robinson was a serviceable fifth starter.  Sheridan's at least interesting to me because although he never put up good numbers, he's an Ann Arbor-born MLBer who went to Eastern Michigan (and won a ring with the '85 Royals).

This scan has a few other players I still like to collect.  The versatile Brookens and Lemon were also '84 holdovers, though both were a couple years from retiring.  Henneman, as I'm sure I say every time I mention him, was one of the best closers in team history.  Nokes was only with Detroit for parts of five seasons but the young catcher was one of my favorites when I was growing up, especially after his excellent '87 season.

As for the guys I wasn't so high on, we'll start with Lynn, who wasn't that great in parts of two seasons in Detroit while at the tail end of his career, and also ended up costing the Tigers catcher Chris Hoiles, another Eastern Michigan alum.  Another notable guy known for a different team, Ray Knight, didn't make the cut for the set for whatever reason despite appearing in more than 100 games during his sunset season.  Walewander and Lusader had super cool last names but their careers are barely worth mentioning, and neither was that of reliever Don Heinkel.  Finally, utility guy Salazar at least enjoyed a career that lasted for more than a decade, but spent just one moderately productive season in Detroit.

Here we'll start with the negatives and then finish up on a high note.  Paul Gibson is one of those guys you always seemed to pull out of junk wax, and if you were me you weren't excited.  I don't know what earned him the Topps All-Star Rookie trophy, but regardless he never lived up to any of that billing.  Murphy came to Detroit from Oakland where he enjoyed several productive seasons, but in '88 he was a year away from retiring and hadn't been useful for a few years.  Heath was at least a serviceable backup behind the dish, but also heading towards the downswing of his career.  And Power's one season in the Detroit pen was unremarkable.

And that leaves us with a few more reminders of the glory of '84.  Tanana put up yet another decent season in the rotation, and the Detroit native would be around for a few more years to boot.  The late Bergman chipped in at 1B and in the OF with a career-best batting average and would also stick around for a while longer.  Morris, of course, was the team's ace, leading the bunch with 15 wins as his dominant decade neared a close, a stretch that finally earned him his Hall of Fame nod.  And finally we have the horizontal team leaders card, one I forgot also includes Trammell during a mound visit between Tanana and Heath.

And that's the 1989 Topps set as I see it.  It may not be my favorite but there's still plenty that interests me while remaining the set I identify most with my early childhood.  I think I've mentioned this before but I believe as kids my brother and I had complete (factory?) sets of '89 Donruss and Topps, but I also recall playing around with them, which probably explains why they didn't remain complete in my possession for long.  No worries, though, as one is once again part of my collection!

Next time we'll be going forward a few years and scoping out 1992 Topps.

2018 trade package #19: Scribbled Ink

I enjoyed one of my best blogger meet-ups yet a few Sundays ago when I joined Paul from Scribbled Ink and the eponymous John of John's Big League Baseball Blog in attending Alan Trammell's number retirement ceremony on August 26.

I'll pretty much defer to Paul's outstanding pictures from our seats in the Kaline's Corner section of right field, but I snapped a few shots myself.  This was the scoreboard as we waited for things to begin.  The "72 degrees" temperature was wildly inaccurate considering the muggy weather, but it didn't stop us from having a great time.

Tram joined Morris, who'd enjoyed the same honor earlier in the month.  Unfortunately Paul and I arrived just a hair too late to snag the promotional giveaway jersey--it was like Black Friday up in there--but the occasion was enough by itself for us to have a great time.  The speeches by Lou Whitaker and Trammell himself were great and really highlighted why they continue to be revered a couple decades after retiring.

The game itself was pretty typical for 2018.  Overpriced flop Jordan Zimmermann continued his reign of terror, putting the game practically out of reach for the stalled offense by allowing five runs, including a two-run shot a handful of rows behind us.  And at-that-time uninjured future star Michael Kopech showed why he was so highly regarded, stymieing Detroit's hitters for six solid innings.  Fortunately Detroit kept it somewhat interesting by loading the bases a couple times, even if they couldn't capitalize.

A particular highlight for us was a ninth inning HR by SS Ronny Rodriguez that barely eluded our section and went into the tunnel, where it was hoarded by staff working down there.  John and Paul are clearly visible in the video replay while I'm obscured by the foul pole (which is fine--I got some screen time a while back thanks to a Rajai Davis walk-off slam!).  John's the circled guy while Paul is the dude wearing the Detroit jersey.

So all in all it was a great time and I think we're all itching to do this again next year, maybe even with others involved.

A positive outcome of this event was Paul and I swapping some cards.  He brought a bunch of surprises to go with a couple things I'd claimed, and I'm very excited with what I ended up with:

It's the namesakersons!  Grandy is from the '07 Topps Generation Now insert set I'm chasing while JV is an Orange parallel (#189/299) from 2017 Topps Fire.

PC guy Rich Hill had just bested fellow PC guy Clayton Richard a couple days before this game so it was fun to see an autograph of the former pop up here.  As with the rest of his cards produced in 2009 he appears as a member of the Orioles on this Topps Career Best auto.  That came out a year before his first tour of duty with the Red Sox, after which he bounced around between LA, New York, and indy ball.  Things turned around from there and the rest is history!

Dual-sport star Drew Henson was the surprise star of the package thanks to these six cards.  The RC from 2001 Fleer Platinum plus the Fleer Tradition This Day in History insert from the following year were both new to me, with the latter joining up nicely with the autographed version I own.  The others are quite nice as well, including the Triple Crown RC which is numbered /2999.  I shouldn't be too surprised a local guy like Paul came up with these for me, though!

The Barry Larkin pile was almost as good in quantity with this cool five-spot.  A brand spanking new 2018 Archives base was a nice touch but I'm especially excited about getting the pair of 1998 Pinnacle Inside Stand-up Guys inserts that comprise this piece:

This product's can packaging and inserts like this were literally outside the box in an era where cards were fun, prior to a Topps monopoly seemingly imposed by the Dolores Umbridge of collecting.  Anyway, Barry's in good company on these cards, too, joined by the likes of Nomar, Jeter, and A-Rod.  Anytime I can add something like this to my collection it's a win, so bonus points to Paul here.

Here's one last trio of Michigan Baseball guys in my PC:  Hal Morris ('89 Donruss), J.J. Putz (2011 Topps Diamond Anniversary) and Chris Sabo (1994 Score Rookie/Traded) rounded out a very nice bunch of cards I didn't know I was getting.

But what I was prepared to haul home, thanks to Paul being nice enough to tote them to Detroit and then to Greektown from his parking spot, was this pair of sets:  1989 and '92 Topps.  He'd grabbed them on the cheap at a show and I claimed them as I continue to try to fill out Topps' flagship products from 1983 (when I was born) to some endpoint, maybe 2010 since I don't care about the more recent versions.  Thanks to Paul, plus arpsmith earlier this year, I'm one set away from that goal:  1990.

While I try to track that down I'll do up posts for each of these sets similar to the ones I did for the four I grabbed from Adam back in January.

Once again, a big thanks to Paul for bringing all of this great stuff, and to both Paul and John for a fun day at the ballpark.  I'll see you guys there next year, and hopefully sooner too, maybe for a show!